Weddings, Witches and Little Emily Salvatore
by LoveDisaster
Summary: In which Damon comes home for Stefan and Elena's wedding... D/? AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Anyone who reads Attacking the Wild Animal, it will get finished, I promise. For some reason Damon's voice in that particular story isn't coming as easily to me right now. I'm hoping to rematch some of season 1 and hopefully that will help. **

**For now, I hope y'all enjoy this.**

Damon stood in front of the Salvatore mansion with his duffle bag and an invitation in his hand. It would be easier to turn around and walk away. Go back to the life he's made for himself separate from his brother, but he knew it would be wrong. Damon supposed he would have to go in and face the festivities.

Stepping in to the house, everything looked the same. Even his bourbon looked completely untouched in the library. There was noise coming from the backyard and so he dropped his duffle and headed out there. Tyler and Matt are there, along with Elena's brother Jeremy and Alaric, Bonnie is the first to see him.

"Oh God, why are you here?" she says with a disgusted look on her face. Damon thinks that this would be the perfect time to respond with some ironic and witty remark. Instead, he explains in complete earnest,

"I'm the best man." He thinks that 6 years ago, he probably would have cursed and annoyed the witch. Now, he just wants to find his brother and congratulate him. As it so happens, Elena finds him first. She's wearing a pretty white sundress and against her tan skin, he thinks she looks like an angel. He remembers now that Stefan mentioned them just getting back from Bermuda on a pre-honeymoon.

"Hi," Elena says although it sounds more like a song. He hasn't seen her in the six years he's been gone and he thinks that if it's possible she's gotten more beautiful. Surprisingly his gut isn't filled with the unbearable rage jealous that the idea of Elena and Stefan use to arise in him.

"Hi, Congratulations on the nuptials," he says. His own ring burns him just a little where it hangs under his t-shirt as a reminder of what's waiting for him when he gets home. It only adds to the ache of being away from everything he's come to cherish.

"Well, it hasn't happened yet, that's why you're here, to be a part of the ceremony," she says. She doesn't look like the girl he loves anymore. She just looks like the girl his little brother is going to marry, and there is a sort of sadness in that. The fact that someone could mean so much one day and now be a complete stranger.

"Where's Stefan?" he asks. She's looking at him with a sort of pity in her eyes. She probably thinks he's been running all these years, but he doesn't feel the need to explain himself to her right now. Why he left so suddenly and where he's been will have to wait for another time.

"Upstairs, in his room," she says and without another word that's exactly where he heads. Taking the steps two by two to get up there faster, he's anxious to see Stefan again.

As soon as he's reached the door to his brother's bedroom, it opens revealing a smiling Stefan. It shocks him how much both of them have chilled out. Seriously Damon doesn't remember the last time he had to stake someone or fight someone unless it's verbally. He does a lot of verbal sparring as the mayor of the small town he now lives in.

Damon slips into one of the arm chairs in the room and gets comfortable, ready to listen to all the things Stefan needs to tell him about the wedding. Instead Stefan asks his favorite question,

"How's the wife?" At this Damon grins, a genuine smile. No one except Stefan knows he's married. They decided that they really wanted to leave Mystic Falls behind when they moved to a small suburban town in Connecticut, and that meant telling almost no one where they were going.

"Beautiful, as ever, I told you she's already four months into the pregnancy and glowing. Work has got her a little hassled, but it's nothing she can't handle." Damon responds imagining his wife in the office of the PR firm, she works for.

"And Emily," Stefan asks.

"Exactly like her mother. We've come up with a list of house rules that everyone has to follow so Emily doesn't do anything silly, and she follows them more thoroughly than we do."

"Yea that sounds like her," Stefan laughs. There's an ease in the room that hasn't been there in a long time. They're just two brothers talking with all of the past drama behind them.

"Stefan, Damon dinner is ready," Elena shouts from the foot of the stairs. He hasn't gotten a chance to ask his brother about the wedding or what he's been up to lately, but there will be time for that later. They've got nothing but time now.

They're all seated around the table, when the topic of Caroline comes up. She disappeared right after graduation about 6 years ago and no one has heard from her. Stefan practically chokes when her name is brought up.

"Does anyone know if she's coming to the wedding?" Bonnie asks. Damon keeps his face cool and composed even though that damn ring is burning again.

"I sent her an invite, but I didn't get an answer back, yet," Stefan says. Now, that he's swallowed all his food he looks much more composed and believable.

"How did you know where she is? None of us know anything about where she went after graduation," Jeremy says.

"She left me a phone number, in case of emergencies," Stefan says. Bonnie looks at Elena and wonders out loud, "and you haven't stolen it from him and called her? She's our best friend Elena."

"She doesn't want to be found Bonnie," Elena says sounding too peaceful. That can't be right. She should be more pissed that her best friend doesn't want to speak to her. Damon is silently grateful that she doesn't put up more of a fight.

"She's in the South of France and she's fine. She's taking a cooking class and she sounds cheerful," Stefan says as if these facts will subdue the entire table. They're all pissed that Caroline didn't even make an effort to stay in touch. Damon knows that both the details that Stefan supplied are wrong. Caroline is not in the South of France, and Caroline is not taking a cooking class. Her cooking still sucks. He supposes that a few white lies that will help everyone sleep at night are better than no information about their friend's whereabouts.

"I don't understand why she ever left without saying anything to me," Matt says. Damon isn't surprised that Mutt is confused he's pretty sure that all the tackles he now takes as the Green Bay Packers quarterback have actually diminished his brain capacity. Damon apologizes to Matt in his mind because he's pretty sure that Making Fun of people is on Emily's don't list and he smiles imagining the cute three year old scolding him with her hands on her hips.

The conversation has moved on to other topics, so Damon excuses himself from the table and heads up to his bedroom, ready to call it a night.

In the middle of the night, Damon awakes to Elena's screaming. He rushes down the stairs to find that there's a full out fire in the kitchen and Elena is entrapped by the flames. Stefan is on the floor knocked out cold and Jeremy and Alaric are doing everything they can to extinguish the flames. Bonnie is under some kind of spell floating above the whole mess either trying to fix it or make it worse and there is a strange witch with blue hair and fire coming out of her hands orchestrating the whole thing. Damon tackles her and the fire goes out. Bonnie drops to the floor and immediately checks on Elena who has run to check on Stefan. All of sudden, all Damon can feel is unimaginable pain, his skin is being sliced in every imaginable place.

"You, it's your fault the child exists," the witch says. She doesn't get a chance to finish because Alaric's plunged a dagger into her gut and she vanishes leaving the dagger to clang loudly on to the floor. Damon is in much too much pain to survey the damages done to everyone, but by that witch's last statement all of this is his fault. Everyone is hurt right now because of his Emily.

When he awakes again, Elena is at his side. He's bandaged in a lot of place along his body and he can taste morphine on his tongue even if he can't feel it. When Elena sees that he's awake, she tries to explain,

"Damon, you weren't healing. Not as fast as you usually do, so we had to bring you to the hospital. What's going Damon? What child was she talking about? Why can't you heal as fast as usual?" she asks rushed and he's too sleepy to answer her.

**TBC- Please review **


	2. Chapter 2

**Don't think I made it clear, but Caroline is a human in this story. What Damon is will be made clear later on, but he definitely is not a vampire any longer. **

**Shorter chapter…More to come soon.**

**Caroline's POV**

When the phone rings at four in the morning, Caroline is ready to murder whoever it is who thought it would be a good idea to wake a pregnant woman. As it so happens, it's one of the only people she won't decapitate for waking her.

Thirty minutes later, she's heading down the freeway to Mystic Falls. Carole King is playing softly in the background and her travel mug of decaf coffee sits firmly in the cup holder by her side. She'd like the hardcore regular stuff, but doesn't want to risk the look her husband will undoubtly give her for drinking coffee while she's pregnant. She has four bags in the trunk, packed haphazardly. Her most important cargo however, is the three year old sleeping preciously in the backseat. She's oblivious to the fact that anything is wrong.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Caroline is nervous and scared. Her fingers tap rhythmically on the steering wheel and her heart is racing. Her mind is reeling a thought a minute. She's so angry right now that all she can think about is getting to Mystic Falls. She's angry, but she's still calm. It wouldn't do any good to fly off the handle right now, not with people depending on her.

**Stefan's POV**

Stefan is a mess. He thinks that if Damon wasn't so damaged right now, he'd kill him for making him keep all these secrets. He knows why the secrets are necessary, but he doesn't like dealing with all the questions Elena keeps throwing his way.

"Stefan, do you have any idea why he isn't healing?" "Who was that witch?" "Was it a bad idea to invite Damon to the wedding; is all of this trouble because of him?" "Where has he been these six years?" Elena rambles on and on. He's tired and worried about his brother.

"Elena!" He snaps at her. "I can't answer your questions when you keep asking new ones. I don't know why he's not healing. His healing ability should be the same as it's always been. I don't know who the witch is; Bonnie and Tyler are working on getting us some answers. It is not Damon's fault that this is all happening now!" His gaze softens and he touches her arm. "We'll figure this out, Elena. We'll deal with it."

They stand there arms encircled around each other for a minute, when they are interrupted by a hospital member.

"Mr. Salvatore?" She asks hesitantly.

"Yes, is there any news on my brother?" he asks turning to face the nurse.

"Not yet, I have some of his personal items, things we removed before surgery, I thought you'd want to have them." She says and hands him a plastic bag.

"Thank you," Elena says for him. He takes the bag and starts to go through it. The clothes Damon was wearing are in there and his wallet. He doesn't go through the wallet because Elena is with him and he's sure that Damon has become the kind of person who keeps photos in his wallet, photos of family. As he's pulling out his brother's shirt, something falls to the floor with a loud clank. Elena next to him picks it up. It's a ring. Stefan wants to laugh at the pathetic situation they've all gotten themselves into. Of course, Damon has become the kind of person who wears rings. (.com/Antique-Style-Wedding-Yellow-9-5mm/dp/B0042SPQLY)

"Is this a wedding band?" Elena asks.

"I don't know, "he gives her the simplest answer he can, mostly because he's not sure how to explain everything to her and mostly because he's too tired to try.

Eventually, Elena goes home to rest and change. Stefan spends the entire night sitting by Damon's side twirling the rings around his finger willing him too wake up. The truth is that Damon never really deserved any of the horrible things that have been pushed upon him. Stefan had forced him to become a vampire, and Damon lost his humanity in the process. For years, Stefan has made it look like Damon was the bad brother, but Damon had just been reacting to the curse Stefan had pushed off on him. Damon doesn't wake up during the night, and Stefan doesn't sleep. He watches his brother like that alone will bring him back, but Damon is steadily getting worse, and there is nothing Stefan can do about it.

Well that isn't necessarily true…

**TBC… Please Review! **


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter is super short, but it's just a filler chapter leading up to the next one.**

**Next on: Damon's family arrives and everyone deals with the return of Caroline Forbes**

Stefan's POV

Damon's life has always been an ironic twist of fate.

As a human, he had never been satisfied. He had always wanted something he didn't have; Katherine, his father's affection, his mother back, and then finally Elena. He had wanted more from life than the obligations he was forced into. His father had said that it was the eldest Salvatore's job to fight in the war, but Damon who loved everything so passionately, didn't believe in fighting purposeless wars. He didn't understand the point in fighting a war without cause, not when there was so much joy in the world around him.

As a vampire, Damon shut off his emotions. He decided that it was too painful to feel the constant loss of his humanity. Instead, he flipped the switch and felt nothing at all. His existence became about two distinct pleasures; blood and torturing his brother.

As a human, Stefan lived his life in quiet obligations. His father insisted on Stefan growing up as a gentlemen and that is what Stefan grew up to be. His only true rebellion against his father's rules was Katherine. Stefan had believed she was worth it. Other than Katherine, Stefan lived a contained and patient life. Where Damon may solve problems with instinct, Stefan solved them with brilliantly executed plans. Stefan was the polite, controlled human who turned into the wild, uncontrollable vampire. Ripper Stefan they called him. He ripped into his victims, tore into them until only bits and pieces remained.

The years had changed both brothers for the best. Stefan had met Elena, who strangely enough looked exactly like Katherine, but had the exact opposite temperament, and Damon had turned his emotions on long enough to fall in love with a human, and father a child.

Now, Damon lay human, but dying in the hospital bed and Stefan knew of only one way he could save him, turn him back into a vampire. Stefan felt like everyone was waiting for him to make some sort of decision. Elena and Bonnie came in to the room every twenty minutes and he just knew that they were pacing out in the hallway. Not to mention that Damon's family would be arriving soon and they would be completely devastated to find him in such a state.

With one final deep breath, Stefan made the same decision he had made years ago.

"You should have this before I kill you," Stefan says and slips Damon's ring that he's been fidgeting with onto his ring finger. He bites into his wrist and brings the bloody appendage to Damon's lips, but as he does so he sees that his brother's skin is returning to his normal pinkish color and that some of the scrapes on Damon's face are rapidly healing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Previously on:**

"**You should have this before I kill you," Stefan says and slips Damon's ring that he's been fidgeting with onto his ring finger. He bites into his wrist and brings the bloody appendage to Damon's lips, but as he does so he sees that his brother's skin is returning to his normal pinkish color and that some of the scrapes on Damon's face are rapidly healing. **

When Caroline rushes into the hospital looking for her husband she looks frazzled, she's so worried and scared that she doesn't even consider that she's going to have to face all the people she left behind. She has a life in Connecticut, a big beautiful life, but somehow being back in Mystic Falls turns her into a teenager again; a nervous, insecure teenager.

"My husband was admitted. I need to see him, now." Caroline says as she gets to the nurse station. She's using her PR voice, the one she uses when she's trying to sound intimidating to clients, but it's the only thing right now that will express her urgency.

"Caroline!" she hears from down the hall and she turns to find Matt enveloping her in a big bear hug. From what she can tell, he hasn't changed all that much since high school and she finds that oddly comforting.

"Where have you been? No one's seen or heard from you in 6 years, and then you just show up here, and you're pregnant?" Matt always rushes everything when he's confused.

"Caroline!" She hears a squeal and the next minute Bonnie, Tyler and Jeremy are attacking her in a three way hug. She loves and has missed all her friends dearly, but she's worried about her husband, and a little annoyed that she hasn't seen him yet.

"Hey guys, not that I'm not loving the love right now, but where's Stefan?" She says. She's surprised that no one's put two and two together yet and realized that she has arrived in Mystic Falls at the same time that Damon was admitted into the hospital, but she's thankful for the short reprieve when she doesn't have to explain herself.

"Hi," Elena says quietly. She must have been standing there for awhile, but Caroline somehow missed her. The girl that stands before her however, looks distinctly different from the girl she knew in high school. This Elena is timid and shy.

"Stefan called you?" Elena asks.

"Yea, is he in there?" Caroline asks and points to the only doorway Elena could've possible come from.

Elena nods and then asks possibly the stupidest question that Caroline has ever heard, "Are you having an affair with my fiancé?"

Everyone's mouth drops open at that.

"What? Are you serious right now Elena?"

"Well, you disappeared six years ago, and I found out that Stefan has known how to get in touch with you all along, and now you're here looking for Stefan." Caroline's still trying to put together how all of that reasoning means she's having an affair with Stefan Salvatore, when she realizes that only a doorway separates her and her husband. With a determined click-clack of her heels, she rushes into the room. Everyone follows.

Stefan and Damon look up when she enters the room, but that does not deter her from her mission; get to her husband as fast as humanly possible.

"Baby…" Damon draws out rising as if to prove to her that he's all healed. "I am fine," he continues. She'd believe the "I'm fine," phrase a lot more if she didn't know that this was Damon's go to phrase. He always says "im fine," when he's putting on a show.

"Yea well I would believe that a lot more if I hadn't had a panicked Stefan call me in the middle of the night." She strokes the back of Damon's head like she knows he loves to be comforted when he's sick.

Damon shoots Stefan a glare, but Stefan just shrugs. "I thought you were dying," he says.

"Wait just one minute," Of course Bonnie ruins the moment. "Do you mean to tell me that all this time you've been gone, you've been with him?" She practically spits out the "him." Bonnie is honestly one of my best friends, but her distaste for Damon makes me furious, mostly because she never really gave him a chance.

"I will explain everything later, but right now we have a three year old who really shouldn't be left alone with my mother for too long." Caroline says

"You left Emily!" Damon yells as he jumps up. She can tell he's in a lot of pain because even when he's angry with her, his hand goes to her shoulder for support. That's just the way their marriage is; even when they're angry with each other they are still an indestructible team.

She and Damon have a rule that they don't leave Emily with non-supes. Even, when she goes to school, her teacher is a werewolf.

After Damon finds out that Emily is alone without the so-called proper supervision, he demands to be taken to her. Caroline doesn't bother to argue. All Damon can focus on right now is his worry for their daughter and until that's resolved nothing else matters.

Stefan and Caroline get him into the car before he even says another word. The others are following in Elena's car, but she's squished in the back with Damon, as Stefan drives her car and Bonnie sits in the passenger seat. Ten minutes into the drive, Damon turns to her. The movement makes Caroline antsy and she's starts to fidget with her wedding ring. Damon puts his hands on hers to still her and says in the quietest voice possible, "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Caroline turns towards Damon and takes a moment to study her husband. He's tired and weak she can tell that from the bags under his eyes and the teary look he's giving her express just how sorry he is. Damon doesn't make it a habit of yelling at her. She brings her hand out from under his and strokes his cheek. "It's Emily," she says and her husband nods. Just those words are enough for them both. They both know the risks they take by having children, but it's a risk they are both willing to take. They made a pact long ago that if it anyone ever came for their family they would fight to the death together.

She wants a moment alone with Damon to talk about the witch that attacked them. Stefan filled her in some on the phone, but chances are Damon will know more than he's letting anyone in on. She doesn't have a moment alone with him though and before she can say another sentence the car has stopped and Damon's dashing up her mother's front stoop.

She hasn't even gotten her seatbelt of yet.

**AN: Hey Guys! I hope y'all enjoy this. I'm planning on revealing a lot more of the secrets behind Emily, Damon and Caroline's marriage, the significance of Damon's ring and the witches. **

**Please Review, it always means so much and let me know if anything is confusing. I'll clarify. **


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